Recent Storey Lake experiences?

[linzjane88]

In the days of Covid all resorts feel like a new experience. We are likely cancelling Aulani/Oahu in November and switching to WDW because Florida will take us no questions asked ! I was interested in Bonnet Creek if I can snag a 4 bedroom presidential for a good price but then the experiences from this Labor Day weekend were really bad. Minimal mask enforcement (I think that would be an issue for our friends), and super crowded pools with insane waits just to swim, etc. I don't know that I want to deal with that. I started thinking maybe Windsor Palms (haven't stayed before) or Storey Lake (stayed twice).

When we stayed at Storey Lake the first time when it was under construction the pools and lazy river were a ghost town and it was AMAZING. By the second visit the word had clearly gotten out and the pools were PACKED. We had to stalk the lot for a parking space and once we got one (after being honked at by impatient people) we had to stalk for pool chairs, collecting them one at a time as people left. No joke, if someone started gathering their things there was someone waiting for the chair behind them. It was night and day different and I wouldn't go back if that was the norm. Plus we had loud parties next door that went all night. It was not the best stay. My thinking is that WH has larger pools and hot tubs at the house vs Storey lakes smaller house pools but has the water park.

So, has anyone visited SL recently? Bonus if the visit was since Covid!

 

[BadgerGirl84]

Bump! We are looking for a rental in late April and are considering Storey Lake. We’ve stayed at WH and liked it, but are hoping to be closer to Universal this trip.

 

[pepperandchips]

We've now stayed at Storey Lake three or four times - it's my go-to for an offsite villa location if we want a whole house or need to bring our dogs.

My initial review from our first stay is here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/storey-lake-deconova-rental.3792102/ My view on Storey Lake is now substantially better. I can't overstate how convenient it is to zip straight down Osceola - and I was wrong in my previous post, you do not need to pay tolls on Osceola if you use the main entry and exit of the community (which is off of Osceola). There is also a back gate which exits to 192, which is convenient depending on where you're heading.

Directly across the street from Storey Lake (across Osceola) is a back entrance to a Publix shopping center. There are other stores there including a Five Below and there are some fast casual restaurants (sorry, Five Guys Burgers is all I can remember right now) and a Miller's Ale House. During COVID I have eaten curbside takeout from that Miller's more times than I care to admit. It's so nice having those choices at your doorstep. It's also super easy to get food delivered to Storey Lake.

Maybe most important to me is how safe the community feels - I was comfortable staying there solo this fall while my husband traveled elsewhere. The gates are often out of order (think they've worked correctly only during one of our stays), but there is a manned entrance (the main entrance off Osceola) so anyone coming into the community needs to interface with that person. We've never had the issue of the "pizza flyer scams" here like we've seen elsewhere.

We have only done the four and five bedroom townhomes, all of which have a private plunge pool, so we have not used the community amenities. They look nice. The private pools have been a nice option though I think I've only gotten in a pool once.

I've rented twice through Airbnb myself (one was a vacasa listing on Airbnb - you can go through them directly, but on Airbnb they agreed to waive the pet fee for me so I booked it there) and my MIL booked through DecoNova vacations. My other rental on Airbnb was through a rental agency called "Nord" - I will not rent from them in future as the furniture was extremely poor quality, some of it did not match the photos on the listing, the carpet had been shabbily patched, and the kitchen supplies were poor quality and missing necessary items. The Vacasa rental was my favorite but it looked like it had not been a rental long (and there were no prior reviews on Airbnb for that listing).

Please let me know if you have any specific questions I could help with. There are a lot of options in this community including larger freestanding homes and stacked (flat) condos, which we have not stayed in -- yet! I will certainly be back, I feel.